Standard shift 9 seater!

July 6 Tallinn to Saarema

Ernst, Syl and I picked up the party bus in the am and we managed a 9:00am start from the Radisson Blu downtown. The route west out of Tallinn was straightforward and the traffic light. We were heading to the western edge of the mainland to a ferry terminal that would carry us to the largest of Estonia's over 1500 island's, Saaremaa, to explore Dad's birthplace.

Driving onto the brand new Regula.

Stephanie and Luis on the Regula to Saaremaa.

Saaremaa is known today as a holiday destination for Esto's, Finn's and Swede's. It is pancake flat, covered in fir (juniper & pine) and birch trees and sparsely populated. We are staying in the only town with a significant population, Kuressaare on the south western side.

The trip, including a 45 minute highly modern ferry ride took a total of 5 hours. We spent the balance of the afternoon exploring the Kuressaare castle. There were wonderful exhibits inside including many photographs and items of early life on the island. There was an educational disply including videos of World War 2 on Saaremaa with a time line of events. It was really interesting - also noted an Ounpuu listed in one of the stories.

Photos: inside the castle - Ernst, Reet, Alex and Vyvyan and Vyv, Ernst and Reet on the bridge over the moat.

We were joined at dinner by two of dad's cousin's, Mai and Saima. They are two of 8 of Elmar Heinmets' children. (Elmar was Hilda (Ernst's mom) brother.) He and his wife and 8 children did not make it out of Esto in 1944 despite trying; traveling with a family of 10 was cumbersome and expensive. Both Mae and Saime reminded Syl, Taffy and me of our grandmother Hilda in their looks and genuine warmth and friendliness. We ate a typical Esto meal, Reet sampled the wild boar, in a restaurant converted from an old windmill (1899) that was in use to grind grain until the 1980's.

The next moring - July 7th we left town to drive north to Vohlma.

Dad was born in a small village on the north side of the island open to the Baltic Sea, called Vohlma in 1932. That is where we will explore tomorrow.